On these pages I show how to do balanced mosaic knitting with the use of the pattern charts that are on the page with the instructions (click here). Download them both: the ‘shortened’ full version as well as the partial version with the regular knitting symbols. Please also read the explanation of the knitting symbols first and pay attention to the difference between front, back and working side!

Click on the small pictures in this tutorail to see them in full.

  1. Cast on and row 1: click here to go to that page
  2. Row 2: click here to go to that page
  3. Row 3 and 4: that’s this page

The videos

I also made videos for this tutorial. Click here for the entire playlist or look at the bottom of this page.

Row 3

Row 03 traditionalHere you see the pattern of row 3 with the knitting symbols. We will work again with the dark color (color 1), as you can see at the side where the ‘3’ is in a bordeaux colored square. You also see that the stitches in the light color (color 2) all have to be slipped with the yarn to the back side of the piece. It’s just one  slip all of the time.

Row 03 balanced garterHere you see the pattern of row 3 in the shortened version. Again the row is drawn only once. And again you just have enough with this if you just follow the rules of balanced mosaic knitting.

Row 3, forth going row

06 Row 3a 01 side before the color switch06 Row 3a 02 bring new yarn over yarn of previous colorHere you see how the side looks before we do the color change (picture 1). I have brought the yarn of the light color to the back and to the left. We will now work with the dark color (picture 2). Also see the pictures of row 4 for a bit more detail of the color change.

06 Row 3a 03 slip first stitch06 Row 3a 04 knit second side stitchSlip the first stitch and knit the second.

Now knit all stitches that have to be in color 1 and slip the stitches of color 2.

06 Row 3a 05 knit next stitch 06 Row 3a 06 slip fourth stitch 06 Row 3a 07 knit next stitch 06 Row 3a 08 slip next stitch 06 Row 3a 09 knit next stitch 06 Row 3a 10 slip next stitch 06 Row 3a 11 next 3 stitches knitted Pictures 1 through 6 show the next stitches of the pattern. Picture 7 shows the 3 knitted stitches in a row.

Row 3, returning row

07 Row 3b 01 slip first stitch 07 Row 3b 02 bring yarn to front side 07 Row 3b 03 slip second side stitch Picture 1 shows again that the first stitch is slipped, the yarn is brought to the front of the piece agaian (picture 2) and the next stitch is slipped (picture 3).

07 Row 3b 04 knit stitch 07 Row 3b 05 yarn to wrong side 07 Row 3b 06 slip stitch You don’t need the chart, look at the stitches on the left needle. Slip the stitches of color 2 with the yarn to the wrong side of the work. Knit the other color and do the knit-slip repeat when encountering more than 1 consecutive stitch of color 1.

07 Row 3b 07 3 stitches in a row 07 Row 3b 08 knit the first 07 Row 3b 09 slip the second 07 Row 3b 10 knit the third 07 Row 3b 11 yarn to wrong side and slipHere you see again the knit-slip repeat when you have more than 1 stitch of color 1. In picture 5 you see the change to color 2 again, that has to be slipped with the yarn to the wrong side of the work.

07 Row 3b 12 slip first side stitch07 Row 3b 13 purl last side stitchHere are the last 2 side stitches again. The first side stitch is slipped, the last stitch is purled.

Row 4

Row 04 traditionalThe pattern chart for row 4 with knitting symbols.

Row 04 balanced garterThe shortened version.

08 Row 4a 01 side before the color switch 08 Row 4a 03 bring new yarn over yarn of previous colorOnce again the color change. Take the yarn of the previous color to the back and get the new working thread to the front and over the previous color to the back.

08 Row 4a 04 slip first stitch 08 Row 4a 05 knit second side stitchSlip the first stitch and knit the next.

I hope all is clear now. If you also want to see this in a video, you see down here the links to the videos.

The videos